“It is with immeasurable sadness that Johannah Deakin’s family said goodbye to Johannah in the early hours of Wednesday, December 7,” a source for the family said in a statement. “Earlier this year Johannah was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of leukaemia that required immediate and continuous treatment. We respectfully request that the family are given time and space to grieve in private.”

The former One Direction star has described his close relationship with his mother in interviews and on social media. Though her health struggle was kept private, Tomlinson shared an image on Instagram two weeks ago with the message: “My mother looking gorgeous before the Brits earlier this year. I love you and miss you so much!”

In January, Deakin became a grandmother upon the birth of Tomlinson’s first child, Freddie Reign.